Generative

The subject assembles out of particles and procedural structure. A face gathers from drifting fragments, a body resolves out of a cloud that was moving before it meant anything.

It reads as something being computed rather than something being filmed. That is useful when the subject is meant to be data, a projection, or a thing that has just come into existence.

Say what the particles are made of. Glass shards, ash, points of light, printed characters, cubes. Unnamed particles come back as generic dust every time, as the note warns.

Assembly needs a direction and a rate. Fragments arrive from one side, or in from the edges, or up from below, and they settle into place over a stated number of seconds.

Leaving the structure unfinished is what keeps it generative. A form that resolves completely into solid skin has become an ordinary shot with an intro. Hold some of the surface as fragments.

Use it for a digital being, for a title card that builds, and for anything that should look assembled rather than found.

Skip it when the shot needs a person the audience can believe in. The surface is the point here, and an emotional performance will not survive being made of cubes.

Datamosh destroys an image that already exists, smearing its compression into the next frames. A generative shot builds an image that was not there, out of parts that are in focus and under control.

The test is the direction of travel. Order falling apart is datamosh. Fragments coming together is generative.

A solid photoreal person comes back with some sparkles near them. Say the form is assembling out of fragments and that parts of the surface stay unresolved.

The second failure is grey dust. Name the particle material, its size and its colour, so the cloud has a character of its own.